Equal Parts Blind Luck & Pessimism

Sometimes it still seems like only yesterday that I moved to Boston, but it's been two years now. Aside from four years of college (spent in a nice, quiet, hole-in-the-wall town), my life had been centered in the city of Pittsburgh, PA. After I graduated from college, I moved back to Pittsburgh and tried to live the rest of my life. It took me the better part of two years, but I finally realized that it just wasn't the place I needed to be anymore. I had plenty of friends and my family was there, but I just felt like my life was being drained away from me there. I went from never imagining myself anywhere else to leaving town just like that.

So I moved to Boston cold. No job. No apartment. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew this was a better place for me to find out.

Of course, if it wasn't for the seemingly boundless generosity of two of my closest friends (not to mention the use of their couch), I never would have made it, physicall or mentally (Visit their webpages! Rebecca & Dave*). I never would have moved here if they hadn't been here. I was hesitant to move someplace where I didn't know anyone. I didn't have that much confidence in myself (still don't to a large extent). Although, less than a month after I arrived, I found myself a fun job with the Gale Group (formerly Information Access Company, Inc.). A month after that, I found my first Boston apartment and I felt like a real human being again. Of course, the apartment sucked, but that's a story for another day.

My Life in Boston

In a lot of ways, I don't really have one yet. I spend a good chunk of my day working (currently doing the 10-12 hours-a-day thing), which obviously makes my socializing pretty limited. (Although I do somehow manage to find the time to go out with Dave* & Rebecca, and some friends from work.)

I currently live in "historic Somerville" as it's advertised. Somerville is this nice little city that is not really part of Boston, but is. Techinally the Boston metro area, but who wants to get technical about it? Somerville is currently dealing with a small inferiorty complex when comparing itself to the much more famous Cambridge.

My home is within walking distance of Davis Square, which was voted one of the top-10 hippest places in America a few years back (exactly why I'm not sure, but whatever). It IS really nice though. A cool movie theatre down the street, a pretty good used CD shop and a nice-sized used book store, plenty of restaurants, and a short trip from Harvard and downtown Boston. The city's right here for the taking... assuming I get out of work. I'm trying to talk as many of my friends as possible into moving out here. It is somewhat selfish I admit, but I wouldn't say anything if I didn't think they'd like it here.

And, actually, I've talked one into it. She's my new roommate! More news as it develops.

What's The Deal With All of This Hockey Stuff?

Ok, look, I love the game of hockey in general and the Pittsburgh Penguins in particular (Thank You Mario!). If there is a Penguins game on TV, nine times out of ten, you will find me sitting like a lump (albeit an animated lump) in front of the tube, berating the officiating and generally acting like an imbecile. That usually involves yelling at the television as if they can hear me. I've actually had people watch games with me just because they wanted to watch my reactions to the game, rather than actually wanting to see the game itself. Unfortunately, now being in Boston, I don't get to see nearly as many Pens games as I would like.

One of my projects is The Unofficial Pittsburgh Hornets Home Page, which currently resides on another site, devoted to a long since defunct minor league team. This page was recently featured in an article in Just Hockey Magazine. I'm a member of the Hockey Research Association, a group of people looking to improve the quality of hockey research and to document the history of the game.

I played dechockey at Allegheny College until my graduation in 1996, so I automatically think that I know something about the sport. That means that I never hesitate to educate anyone who will listen (and many who won't) about the wonderful sport of hockey. One of these days I'll start playing again. Or someone will punch me in the mouth for talking about it too much.

Do You Do Anything Other Than Talk About Hockey?

I guess that depends on who you ask. Trying to justify my English Lit. major (and just because I like to do it) I try to read as much as possible, and am currently in the middle of five books:

• Time Scout by Robert Asprin & Linda Evans
• Generation X by Douglas Coupland
• Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud
• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin

I listen to a lot of music... and when I start listening to a CD I tend to listen to it over and over again. Currently my CD player is holding: Handful of Snowdrops' "Dans l'Oeil de la Temete", Aimee Mann's "Bachelor No. 2 or the Last Remains of the Dodo", Michael Penn's "MP4" and the Ploughman's Lunch self-titled album.

I love to go see movies... The last five I've seen have been: Gladiator, U-571, Mission to Mars, Toy Story 2 and Man on the Moon. TS2 and U-571 were both really good movies. TS2 was very funny and entertaining, while U-571 really drew me in. I felt the tensions of the crew. Gladiator was not a very well written movie, but visually it was great. A nice way to spend a couple of hours. Man on the Moon was mildly entertaining, if a little inconsistent. Give Mission to Mars a miss. I like Tim Robbins and Gary Sinisce to a lesser extent, but they don't help this movie at all.